IBM Battery Maximiser

[jem]

Just purchased a refurbished T21 a few days ago but I am very disappointed with its battery life so far. I have been testing it out over the last 24 hours and so far the battery will last no longer than 20 minutes just doing some web surfing.

Last night I installed the IBM Battery Maximiser. I switched the laptop off last night after charging had reached 12% - didn't want to leave it plugged in all night. This morning I switched it on to finish charging but noticed that the Maximiser icon read 87% charged - how on earth can this be? Anyway unplugged the charger and worked with it for about 5 minutes surfing the web. Noticed the icon gradually reducing to 79%, also the same reading on the battery icon showing in the sys tray. Just at that point, the "low battery" warning sounds and pops up - sys tray icon is at 5%, maximiser icon is still at 79%. Within a few seconds laptop switches off. I the plugged it back into the mains. When I switched it back on, both the maximiser icon and charging icon are at 2%.

I'm going to return this battery tomorrow to the computer firm I bought the laptop from as they guarantee a working battery of half an hour. Personally I would expect a lot more!

However a few questions for the experts.

1. How long should a battery last for - it's a P3-750 processor - under normal use?

2. Is it my battery that is the problem - or the T21 itself?

3. I thought the IBM Battery Maximiser program also included a Battery Information program but I can't see how to use it. I can get the Maximiser wizard but this only sets up usage of the battery. Is there not something which can tell me the state of this battery?

I have Win XP installed on it.

[esquire]

mostly likely an old battery?